A group has been set up to boost the number of women in European private equity.

Hanneke Smits, a co-founder of the campaign group, conceded it would not be easy, but she added: “You need to set a target and aim high.”

Level 20 has been set up by 12 senior women in the industry who have networked for 15 years as they rose through the ranks, and have long believed that there are too few women at the top. Smits, former chief investment officer of Adams Street Partners, said: “What’s become clear is there is a real desire to address this problem and there are a lot of organisations scratching their heads as to how.”

The first phase of the project will involve mentoring around 20 women in mid-level private equity jobs who need a boost to reach a senior position. The mentors are from private equity firms, investors, funds of funds and advisers.

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Smits said: “The idea of our initiative is to become a focal point for discussion, educating firms around best practices on mentoring, recruiting and nurturing women. Particularly, if you are in a small partnership with only two or three partners, it could be challenging.”

There is debate about how effective mentoring can be. Catalyst Europe, a non-profit organisation that promotes women in business, found in 2010 that mentoring helped women but that they also needed “sponsors” in their firms who backed them. Allyson Zimmermann, its executive director, said that “mentoring is necessary but it’s not sufficient for advancement”.

Around spring 2016, Level 20 will also move on to trying to attract and retain more junior women. Women have 14% of front-office jobs at all levels in private equity, lower than investment banking (19%) and asset management (21%), according to research by New Financial in 2015.

Level 20 will also encourage industry executives to donate to good causes, working closely with industry charity Impetus PEF. While 20% is a well-recognised figure in private equity, as the fraction of “carried interest” – the profits that firms retain from deals – Smits would like to set an even higher target for senior women. She said: “We’d love to be called Level 50.”